, trained him, equipped him with those explosives, and directed him to attack that plane headed for america. >> reporter: the president says that the suspect, umar farouk abdulmutallab made his al qaeda contacts and received his training in yemen, a country recked by poverty and an ongoing civil war, now fertile ground strongholds in afghanistan and elsewhere. >> there's really a de facto safe haven for islamic terrorists and the yemeni government is almost powerless to stop them from operating. >> reporter: after getting initial reports earlier this week, mr. obama has called a face-to-face meeting with top officials, set for tuesday at the white house. among the attendees, director of national intelligence, dennis blair. homeland security secretary, janet napolitano, as well as leaders of the tsa and the national counterterrorism center, all formed in the wake of 9/11 attacks and all created to avoid just the kind of human and systemic failures that almost led to añju)áuspj catastrophe in the skies over detroit. >> they should all be in the hot seat. i mean, this is ludicrous. i think t